St Andrew's Presbyterian Church

(now closed)

Camp Street, Daylesford

Built 1904 E. Cornwall Cook
Renovated 1906 George Fincham & Son
2 manuals, 11 speaking stops, 4 couplers, mechanical action



St Andrew's Church, Daylesford: the main façade
[photograph by John Maidment (21 September 2007)]


Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment
© OHTA, 2013 (last updated July 2013)

St Andrew's Church was designed by Ballarat architects Clegg & Miller and built in 1903-4.1 It is a building of some architectural distinction, with an octagonal turret placed to the left of the façade. The building is elevated high above the street and constructed from brick. The church closed some years back but the organ remains in the building, which is listed by Heritage Victoria.

 



St Andrew's Church, Daylesford: the organ viewed from the rear of the nave
[photograph from a real estate website (c.2006)]

The organ was built by E. Cornwall Cook in 1904. In 1906, owing to mechanical defects, it was renovated by Geo. Fincham & Son.2 The only other organ by Cook that is known to survive is at St Andrew's Uniting (originally Presbyterian) Church, Echuca built c.1892.

Edward Cornwall Cook was born in Cheshire in 1864 and arrived in Victoria on 29 April 1883.3 It is not known whether he trained as an organbuilder before his arrival. In 1889 he was declared insolvent.4 He later moved to NSW and was living in Milsons Point, Sydney in 1911 and engaged there as an organbuilder.5 He died in 1915 at St Leonards, NSW.



St Andrew's Church, Daylesford: the organ case and console
[photograph by Bruce Duncan (2008)]

GREAT
Open Diapason
Claribel
Gamba
Principal
Flute
Swell to Great

SWELL
Violin Diapason
Lieblich Gedact
Gemshorn
Harmonic Piccolo
Oboe
Tremulant
Swell Octave

PEDAL
Bourdon
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal

8
8
8
4
4



8
8
4
2
8




16


   

Compass: 61/30
Detached drawstop console
Mechanical key and stop action
3 composition pedals
Lever swell pedal6

 



St Andrew's Church, Daylesford: the console
[photograph by Bruce Duncan (2008)]




St Andrew's Church, Daylesford: the reservoir – placed beneath the organ platform
[photograph by Bruce Duncan (2008)]

 


1 Victorian Churches, edited by Miles Lewis. East Melbourne: National Trust of Australia (Victoria), 1991, p.115

2 E.N. Matthews, Colonial Organs and Organbuilders. Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 1969, pp. 166-167

3 Cook Family Archive: http://www.forum.familyhistory.uk.com/archive/index.php/t-15900.html

4 The Argus 23 November 1889 p.12

5 Sydney Morning Herald 16 September 1911, p.27

6 Specification noted John Maidment February 1966